


Last Rights

by karakael



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-07
Updated: 2012-05-07
Packaged: 2017-11-04 23:38:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/399476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karakael/pseuds/karakael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Long after the Fourth War is over Naruto finds Karin saying some rather strange goodbyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Rights

“Karin?”

The red-head spun around and hurriedly shoved something behind her back, wearing such a guilty expression that Naruto was immediately wary. It was odd enough finding her here, in front of the monument to the Leaf-Ninja lost in battle. Stranger still was the fact that there was a small offering set up, and by her soggy state Naruto guessed Karin had been standing here for a few hours; enough to get caught in the early-morning rain.

“Watcha doing?”

She shifted uncomfortably. “Aren’t I allowed to go where I like? I’m not a prisoner anymore.”

“Yeah but… Wait!” Enlightenment dawned. Incense, offerings… “Oh! You’re praying for the Utchiha’s, right?”

There was a pause where she fiddled with whatever was behind her back. “…If I say yes, will you leave me alone?”

Naruto grinned. “Yep! As long as you pay me~ I say…with that!” He grabbed the top onigiri off of the offering pile and made to take a bite – not meaning to follow through, just tease her a bit.

“NO! That’s Tayuya’s!” Karin shouted, then immediately realized her error. A look of horror covered her face which she tried to hide behind instinctively raised hands.

The Fox looked down at the rice in his hand, only now realizing that it was covered in red-pepper flakes. “Ta-who-ya? You’re…not talking about that Sound chick with the flute, are you?”

From behind her hands Karin nodded dejectedly. “Are…are you going to arrest me now?”

Naruto thought for a moment, looking from the damp kunoichi to the small offering and back. “Why don’t you tell me what this is about, and _then_ I decided whether or not to arrest you.” Her shoulders relaxed a bit and he smiled. “I mean, you just got out, didn’t you? It’d be a shame to put you right back in jail, without even knowing why!”

“Oh.” His grin made her relax even more, and quelled the tears that were gathering at the corner of her eyes. Naruto wondered what the Anbu had said to her to make what he remembered as a feisty medic into someone who would be scared by even saying the name of a Sound-ninja.

He made a snap decision and pulled two freshly cut logs from the forest and set them in front of the monument. He sat down on one and gestured to the other. “Alright. Explain from the beginning. Why are you here?”

 

* * * * * * * * * * * *

 

“It’s nothing much.” She began. “I mean…every village has a monument like this, right? We had one too. But…ours was different. Bigger. More like a wall.”

It was in the main compound, the one that resembled more of an underground city than an occasional hideout. And there was a wall, cut out of the rock and supporting part of the main meeting area, that had every name of every Sound Ninja who had died. 

For a village that had been operational for little less than five years, before it was destroyed, the list of names was phenomenal.

“Last time I saw it, before I went back to the southern hideout and Orochimaru died, there were two thousand names on that wall. There were the obvious people – the ones that died on the attack on the Konoha, the Sound Five, and all the people who died on missions…but that was the short list.”

There was a longer one. It reached from the top of the cavern to the floor, listing each and every person who had died in an experiment.

“And I mean _everyone_ who died in an experiment. There were Leaf nin’s from when Lord Orochimaru worked at Konoha. And all the kids he experimented on before he made the Sound…not to mention all of the people who died under the knife.

“It’s weird, being here, knowing that you only get recognized if you die in a mission. It’s like…is that really all that important? How come people on the front are more special than anyone else?”

Karin sighed.

“But I guess that makes sense. It’s not like you guys do much else here. At the Sound…the most important thing about you was your number. Mine was 347-270. First part was when Orochimaru picked me up, the second was how many experiments I’d been through. When you died, that was what went up on the wall next to your name. And you could look up there, and see how many other people were doing the same as you.”

“I was really important, because I had survived for so long, and had such a high score. Hardly anyone else had gone through so many experiments before being moved on to active duty. The only person with a higher score was Kabuto, and he was second in command. 320 to my 270.

“People respected me because of it, you know? Not like here, where they see the scars and think it’s sad. People were proud of our scars in the Sound. It meant we were part of something. Part of something bigger than ourselves.”

She looked up and caught Naruto’s horrified expression. 

“I know, I know. It sounds crazy – and it was! But you have to understand – none of us came from anything better. Orochimaru…he pretended to care. And we could look at that wall, and it was right there, written out, proof that he really did. He remembered every experiments name. Even the ones that only lasted once. Or the ones that went crazy.”

“Most of the people here barely recognize me. But Lord Orochimaru did. He recognized something worthwhile in all of us. And now…”

She lapsed into silence, looking down at the small box she had been trying to hide earlier.

“And now he’s gone. They’re all gone. And no one…no one remembers them. I think that’s the worst part. All we did, all we suffered...we thought it was for a greater purpose. All the horrible things that happened to me, all of the horrible things we did...it was okay, because Orochimaru was going to make things better so people like us would never have to be hungry or alone again. I _know_ it was naïve, but when he talked to you, he could make you really believe it."

"But now the Sound is gone, and our sacrifices don't mean anything anymore."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Karin turned the box over in her hands, running her fingertips against the clumsily chiseled notes that she had carved in it. 

“So…so I’m the last one left. But I'm not like Orochimaru. I can’t remember everyone’s names. But I can try.”

Quietly she handed over the box. Naruto opened it, finding a single sheet of paper, and on it name after name scrawled in fine print. Tayuya. Kabuto. Yorubie….some names he recognized, some he didn’t. But each had a number beside it, and the paper was pock-marked with tear stains.

When he looked up again he found her staring contemplatively at the monument.

“What were you going to do with this?”

A shrug. “Bury it somewhere, I guess. But I figured if I made an offering maybe they wouldn’t weigh me down so much. And doing it in front of the people who won would be the best place, right?”

She laughed bitterly. “And I _knew_ Tayuya would get a kick out of fucking up Leaf karma and giving one up to the guy who killed her. And I figured the rest wouldn’t mind too much. It’s not like I can go back and carve all their names into our wall.”

He handed the box back. “Does that mean that you’d go back, if you could?”

Karin thought for a long moment, head resting on her curled-up knees. “…yeah, I think I would. That’s probably not what I’m supposed to say to a future Hokage, but…well, the Sound was my home. And even if all the people are gone, it’s still important to remember what happened. Even…even if just to make sure it never happens again.”

She stood, dusted off her shorts, then sent a flick of fire at the offerings, sending them up in a puff of flame. “There. Evidence gone, and no one else has to know. Are you going to arrest me now?”

“I don’t think so.” Naruto said, getting up himself, ignoring the growl from his stomach at the smell of scorched food. “This was really important to you, wasn’t it?”

A nod.

“And…this is your first day out of jail, and this was the first thing you did?”

Another nod. “Yeah. It…needed to be done.”

He thought for a moment before coming to his decision.

“Well…I might tell Tsunade about it, but no one else has to know, right? Specially because we really don’t need a bunch of angry sound-ghosts bugging us!" He grinned. "You were basically doing us some community service! I think the Hokage will understand that.” 

He nodded his head, satisfied. Karin sighed, relived, and started to pack up her things.

“Though…” She froze at his word, and then relaxed again as his voice took on a wheedling tone. “I might have to charge you. Five meat-buns at the convenience store. Since you wouldn’t let me eat that pepper onigiri.”

For the first time she grinned back at him with the smile he had remembered from the time he met her. It was small, but there was a bit of that cocky smirk that so many of the Sound had worn.

“I’ll make you one myself. And then you’ll know why no one let me cook!”

He laughed and picked up one of her bags. "No way. I bet I can eat _anything_ you cook. I'll bet you two ramen-cart meals!"

"Deal. Pepper-onigiri and mustard sushi it is."

As they made their way back to the village he couldn't help but smile. Maybe...maybe Karin wasn't so bad after all. Even if she was a Sound-nin.

And maybe...maybe that was alright too. It was certainly about time they added a few more names to their own monument. And this time...they wouldn't leave anyone out.


End file.
